Tapeworm eggs found in 270-mn-year-old fossilized shark feces

Washington, January 31 (ANI): Fossilized tapeworm eggs discovered in 270-million-year-old shark feces suggest that intestinal parasites in vertebrates are much older than previously known, according to researchers.

Remains of such parasites in vertebrates from this era are rare - of 500 samples examined, only one revealed the tapeworm eggs.

This particular discovery helps establish a timeline for the evolution of present-day parasitic tapeworms that occur in foods like pork, fish and beef.

The study was carried out by Paula Dentzien-Dias and colleagues from the Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil.

The fossilized eggs were found in a cluster very similar to those laid by modern tapeworms. Some of them are un-hatched and one contains what appears to be a developing larva.

"This discovery shows that the fossil record of vertebrate intestinal parasites is much older than was previously known and occurred at least 270-300 million years ago," according to the study.

The fossil described in this study is from Middle-Late Permian times, a period followed by the largest mass extinction known, when nearly 90 percent of marine species and 70 percent of terrestrial species died out.

The research has been published in the open access journal PLOS ONE. (ANI)